I've been toying around with my alternate level style and decided to post some progress. When you reach the third level, instead of seeing the emperor's face and the two gladiators, your gladiator appears in the center of the screen. When you press the button to start, you are chased around by two monsters.

There's no real gameplay to speak of for this level-style yet, and if you press the fire button after a few seconds have passed, you will automatically move on to the next deathmatch. The only thing that's partially done for this level is the movement behaviors for the two monsters. I'm still sort of trying to figure out how I want to shake things up with this level. I'm leaning towards a lock'n'chase sort of gameplay, where you are stripped of your laser gun and have to defeat the monsters through some other means, like leading them into traps. If I'm able to work this out, I think that a monster level will occur every 3 or 4 matches, with swifter/smarter monsters and deadlier playfield hazards.

Thanks. I'm still not totally sure I want to go that way. Last night I was staring at those monster sprites, and they just looked like something I wanted to blast the holy hell out of when I was a kid. Maybe there's an in between, where you could either blast away or trap 'em for mega points.

On a separate note, I was thinking of changing the name of this project to "Duel." It just seems to roll off the tongue nicer, not to mention it would be easier to make a title screen for it. What do you think?

I added a title screen using the new name I am considering ("Duel"). The game will return to this screen whenever the player dies, and display his score. Press fire to begin a new game.

I also corrected a small graphics glitch with the monster level, and added an extra hit point to the first enemy. Next thing I think I have to nail down is a "Got Hit" flashing animation for hitting multi hit-point targets.

One idea I've been toying with are levels where the playfield is always gradually filling up with walls. This could be random, or follow some sort of set pattern.

In this version, I use player0 to create Yars-style defensive zones on each side of the screen. This helps things make more sense, I think, since my display kernel can't handle players firing there. I will come up with something else button presses do when you are positioned there.

I'm still torn about the final name of this project, but I will call it "DUEL" for now.

I've worked a bit on my "hurry-up" routine for the game. When a the game-timer reaches a certain point, two walls seal off the defensive zones, and the shield material becomes a wave of deadly electricity that fries you. The time between the beginning of the round and when the walls appear decreases as you progress through the game.

How about this.. after you've been on a level so long the walls close like you currently have, but if you're there even more time they start to close in on you as well one step at a time.

Yeah, you're way ahead of me.

That was definitely on my mind... as time wears on, I want the whole world to be crumbling around you... face spitting bullets, playfield shrinking, etc. I always loved games where you had to deal with a whole bunch of disasters at once.

- You can go totally off the screen to the bottom, but only in certain spots it seems. Enemy can't shoot you there, yet he knows your there and wants to get you. Same with up top.. you can move up and part of you will be off screen. You can get shot up top, though, since your bottom half is still on screen.

- What is that third level with the monsters? Not done yet I take it because it waits a few seconds then starts a different level.

- Pressing fire too quickly sometimes results in your laser beam being partially left on the screen. Firing again gets rid of it though.

- I like the sounds and the noise and part where the side closes up on you, but maybe there needs to be a warning signal like "Hey, get the fuck out before you die I'm closing in a few seconds!"

Hi there.. just downloaded the latest to try out. I played and the enemy got large and fat.. also my laser stuck on the screen to the right.. that doesn't always happen, though, and I can't "make" it happen.

Sorry, I tried to get a screenshot, but it was one of the wrong frame without enemy on screen, but you can see to the right my laser never disappeared.

Wow, just about ten months since I updated this. I'm really truckin' on this project!

Anyway, there have been a bunch of big changes:

Probably the biggest difference is the way that obstacles are handled. I'm now using sprite based obstacles instead of using the playfield to draw the arena terrain. This has the obvious advantage of allowing for laserfire that is different color then the walls (which was a bit distracting given how much blasting was going on!). A less obvious advantage was that I could do away with all that nasty playfield-reading for collisions. For now the obstacles are indestrucible and static across all screen, but that will change eventually....

I've begun implementing a secondary manuever for the gladiators. When you just quickly tap the button (as opposed to holding it down to charge your gun), you leap in the direction you are facing/moving. For now it functions mainly as a quick dodge/charge, but you might notice there's a sort-of-sword drawn in front of your player sprite when you do this. Ultimately, I'll use this to incorporate a bit of melee combat.

Now that the obstacles are sprite-based, I've simplified the "safety zones" on the left and right to simple red shafts. More importantly, you can now use them to wrap the screen, creating a venue for a quick escape or sneak attack.

Three red dots in the score area track your shield strength. There is a bar on the right that... doesn't do much of anything right now.

The hittable areas for the gladiators has been expanded. Aiming at either the head or the chest should produce a hit most of the time now.

I've kept (and actually expanded) the "bug" where glancing hits bleed off pieces of the player's shielding, which creates temporary cover around the arena. In heated battles, quite a bit of this stuff falls around, providing plenty of opportunities to create sniping holes like in the original version.

The program is really quite different in many subtle ways too. I've tweaked the AI somewhat, and I've ramped up the overall speed of the game, particularly when it comes to laserfire. I've also tweaked the graphics, sound, colors and animation in many places, including a new color logic for the backgrounds and a clearer hit animation. I'm really psyched about this project again and can't wait to wail on it more.

CheersJarod.

*EDIT: Minor sound bugfix and altered color logic for shield trails.

**EDIT: I neglected to reset the score on new games. So, I don't want any smartypants submitting hi scores for the previous version (LOL). New version below (with new score graphics )

***EDIT:I expanded the hittable regions of the gladiators, to make for shorter, more brutal contests (*fixed).

Strange things seem to happen when you move quickly and shot often, like phantom (deathrays?) that don't disappear. There seems to be zero collision detection in the players heads when moving horizontally and their arms when moving vertically. I should have read the directions better, but is this intentional?

Strange things seem to happen when you move quickly and shot often, like phantom (deathrays?) that don't disappear.

That's this:

I've kept (and actually expanded) the "bug" where glancing hits bleed off pieces of the player's shielding, which creates temporary cover around the arena. In heated battles, quite a bit of this stuff falls around, providing plenty of opportunities to create sniping holes like in the original version.

In other words, glancing hits peel off some plasma from your shielding that sticks around until shot. This actually happens more now then it used to, because I like the effect. You can walk through this stuff, but it will block a shot.

There seems to be zero collision detection in the players heads when moving horizontally and their arms when moving vertically. I should have read the directions better, but is this intentional?

There is a "sweet spot" that is hittable at all angles. With some practice you will find it. Also bear in mind that the enemy can block your laser with a laser shot of his own (and vice versa).

Its probably on your to-do list, but you need to clear the sound registers when the game ends. Sometimes if there's a sound effect in-progress right before the end game it plays throughout the title screen.

Its probably on your to-do list, but you need to clear the sound registers when the game ends. Sometimes if there's a sound effect in-progress right before the end game it plays throughout the title screen.

Good call, yeah. There is a lot of garbage like that to sweep up right now before I start actually "designing the game." I guess my big benchmark now is to get this core engine running very smooth, and then hunt down all the little beetles and gnats.

Its probably on your to-do list, but you need to clear the sound registers when the game ends.

Actually, just because it was so easy I went ahead and fixed this now. I also altered the color of the "shield residue" that's left behind form glancing hits, to hopefully make it a less confusing gameplay element.

New Version: A few minor bugfixes as well as some variation in the terrain/obstacles. In addition to an alternate layout, I've also added some initial shield barriers to some of the levels. I'll expand this sort of thing in later builds.

*In the pics below, laserfire can pass through the "Shooting Ports", but gladiators cannot.

*Some levels will begin with some shootable "shield" terrain already in place. Gladiators can pass through this material, but it will block shots until it is destroyed

The updates look great! What are you using for the border bars? I thought it was strange that they flicker. The collision detection still seems dodgy rather than challenging; just too many unregistered direct hits going on. I think it's a little odd that the player jumps forward if you tap fire, is that intentional too? I hope there will be multiple weapon types; a gun that shoots pong balls for example would be awesome.

The updates look great! What are you using for the border bars? I thought it was strange that they flicker.

Thanks. For the borders, I'm just setting PF0 to 255 every other frame.

The collision detection still seems dodgy rather than challenging; just too many unregistered direct hits going on.

I've experimented with larger hit areas, but it doesn't have the same feel for me. Maybe I'll post a "head-to-toe" hit area binary at some point just to get a sense of how people feel about it. But it just doesn't feel like a pitched, touch-and-go battle to me.

I think it's a little odd that the player jumps forward if you tap fire, is that intentional too?

Yes, it's intentional. Actually, as I progress farther in the game I find it invaluable for quickly escaping and finding good angles on the tougher enemies. Ultimately, I might tie this into a full melee combat mechanic. I'm pretty undecided on that at the moment.

I hope there will be multiple weapon types; a gun that shoots pong balls for example would be awesome.

Well, there will definitely be multiple weapon types for your enemies . I'm experimenting with two alternate enemy types at the moment, one of which uses a "bouncy" gun. I don't really want to post something like that until I can figure out the proper AI and leveling. The "sword" woould be an alternate atttack for the player, once the implementation feels good. I am thinking about player customization and a two player deathmatch mode, though, so that might be a good opportunity for weapon variety.